by JD Franx
The artist introduced himself as Tavin as he entered the tent and closed the flaps, handing Kael the paint and brushes he had asked for. He bowed as Seifer gave him his two gold, and left the tent with a second bow and numerous thankyous.
Seifer shook his head and rubbed his neck. “You know that artist probably makes less than that in several years worth of legitimate work.”
“If it stops a pirate invasion, it’ll be worth it,” Kael mumbled. He shrugged as Kyah sat down on a chair and told him what demonic markings to paint on her face.
The most important design was one he had seen many times before. Tattooed on the throat of nearly every Dead Sister he had ever met, he replicated the symbol for a KiPara demon, the four-horned, monstrous guardians of the ninth and deepest level of hell. Most witches worshipped at least one demon and some were even granted their magic, as Arabella had been, in order to use it on Kael during his internment inside Arkum Zul.
He began by painting a solid black pentagram on her throat, followed by what looked like a double-ended, three-pronged pitchfork than ran through the pentagram from top to bottom. Then, through the centre from left to right and right to left, he painted two hanging capitol letter ‘T’s. Back on Earth it was called a Gothic cross.
Next, he painted her face, from the centre of her forehead down over her right eye and all the way around to her cheekbone to the corner of her mouth. The design itself resembled the vertebrae and ribs of a snake, the ribs flaring out from the corner of her eye. On the left side of her forehead and face, Kyah had him paint several demonic symbols representing creatures witches would often summon from the underworld, familiars or bottom-dwelling demons. When magically tattooed on a real witch’s face, Kael knew the actual summoning was completed simply by touching the symbol and calling the creature’s name. The more symbols a witch had tattooed on her face and body meant the more creatures she could summon at one time or the more demon favours or power she had procured. The average witch had two. They agreed to put three on Kyah; any more might be unbelievable.
It took a half hour for Kael to complete the designs and for them to finish drying. Tavin’s finest brush allowed for an amazing amount of detail, so it took a little longer than Kael had hoped. Once the paint dried, Kyah pulled her hood up, covering her face. They thanked Tavin and followed Seifer to the docks. After he pointed out where the boat was docked, Seifer returned to the barracks so he was not seen with them.
“What’s the best way to handle this, do you think?” Kael asked, taking a last check of Kyah’s painted face.
“You must do most of the talking. I will keep my hood up and my head down until needed. Please, love, show them no fear. These are hard men and fooling them will not be easy. Tell them the truth of what you are. They respect power, even if it is magical, and nothing else. I know not what else to offer for advice. For most of my life, I have been out in the world very little, and what I know is from books and lessons the Sisters gave us.” Feeling her touch on his arm, he turned to face her and she kissed his cheek. Kael smiled, nodding as she took his arm and they walked down the docks where one of Captain Havarrow’s personal body guards would row them out to his ship, the Twilight Reave.
Chapter Eleven
“The gift of magic still holds many secrets. Perhaps more so since the Cataclysm triggered by Jasala Vyshaan’s death. Granted, the world no longer looks as it did, and magic has suffered greatly because of it, but there are still many secrets to discover for those who know where to look.”
Kalmar Ibess
4818PC
WILDLANDS FOREST
Giddeon regained consciousness just before dawn the day after Kael and Kyah freed them from the Taktala. Saleece had woken up an hour earlier and had been at his side from the moment she could stand. Kasik was also up and moving around, trying to quickly remove the after effects of the sleep dart’s poison. Max had been awake for hours, having not been given a dart by Kyah because he was already unconscious from the beating he had received from Grodin and his men. Grodin himself was nowhere to be found. Even after Kael left, the little man had not returned, lending support to Giddeon’s theory that Kael had fried his mind.
Bala Takma waited patiently just inside the tent he had given the former slaves. He had dragged both Giddeon and Saleece into the tent after Kael’s departure the night before. The rest of the Taktala fled in the middle of the night, taking all the horses and most of the supplies.
Giddeon sat up, groaning as pain spiked in his neck. “How long have I been out?” he asked, eyeing Saleece.
“It’s morning, Father. Kael has been gone for well over twelve, maybe thirteen hours now.” Though clearly still in considerable pain, Max knelt in front of Giddeon. His bloodshot eyes bored into the ArchWizard with an intensity he had not seen in the big man since the fight in Stillwater.
“You do realize,” Max began, pausing as if to collect his thoughts for a second, “that I should break your scrawny wizard neck right now? He was here, you asshole. My name. Three little letters are all it would have taken to calm Kael down and keep him here.” Kasik stepped closer to the two men in preparation of yet more violence.
Max ignored him as he continued. “You have a shit-load of explaining to do about that, Giddeon. Right now. You’d better convince me that you have a goddamned good reason for letting him walk away without telling him that I was here and that Ember is still alive. His coming across us like he did was a one in a million chance opportunity.”
Giddeon could sense Max’s desire to do him bodily harm. “I do, Max, though I don’t have to answer or explain myself to you...”
Max snatched Giddeon’s robes and jerked him up off his feet, purposely applying pressure so that the collar pressed into the weeping wounds made by the Gyhurra collar, eliciting a moan.
“You fucking do now! I’m sick of your snide comments and your sanctimonious attitude.’ Either you answer me, or we will see if Kasik is good enough to keep you alive, because I don’t give a shit anymore. Got it, wizard?” He shook Giddeon.
“Fine!” Giddeon relented as he struggled against Max’s grip. “You and Ember both need to understand that the young man you knew is gone. Last night, I watched him use dark magic to force knowledge from Grodin’s mind. Kael physically forced an insidious black magic into Grodin’s face until the tentacles spread through his eyes and deep into his brain. When Kael had what he wanted, he tore the magic back out, likely leaving the poor man with permanent brain damage. Grodin is probably stumbling around the forest like a simple-minded fool even now. So yes, I did tell him you both died during the crossing, Max. You will come to learn, and very soon I suspect, exactly what your friend has become. The sooner you accept it, the easier it will be for both you and Ember, if we ever manage to find them again.”
Max slowly released the ArchWizard to stand on shaking legs. Max turned to leave the tent, but glanced back over his shoulder as he stepped out through the tent’s flap.
“I know what my friend has become, Giddeon. He has become harder than he was, of that, I’m sure. But he has also become the only person in all of Talohna capable of removing the collars from you and your daughter’s necks.” Max turned back as he carried on. “The ones that drove three-inch spikes into your neck and that you and Saleece both swore you would rather be dead than spend the rest of your life wearing, remember? Oh, and so you don’t conveniently forget—we are no longer slaves because of Kael. So, you’re right,” Max added, his voice riddled with sarcasm. “He’s become a wanton destructive force for evil and doesn’t deserve to live another minute.”
Giddeon felt himself blush as he shied away from Max’s intent stare.
“You’re a fucking fool, Giddeon, if ever I have seen one. You can learn to accept that,” Max said, shaking his head as he spun on his heel and the tent-flap closed.
“You need to find better arguments, Father, if you plan to convince them of what Kael has become,” Saleece pointed out after Max left.
�
��Don’t you dare start as well. How are we supposed to convince them, if you don’t believe it yourself?” he scolded.
“I do believe; you know that. But you cannot deny that he is acting very differently than a DeathWizard would normally. The one we missed on Kael’s day of birth was the perfect example of how they act. You remember what she did, and she was only ten. There is a reason we have kept the others secret from the common people, but they did not act as Kael has. He has harmed no one yet—besides Grodin, a man any of us would’ve killed given the chance,” she reminded him.
“It matters little, now,” Kasik added. “We know what we have to do, if we can acquire Ember and Max’s help, then it would be better, yes. But for now, what do we do? Go after Princess Corleya or Kael?”
Giddeon sighed, knowing the repercussions and the affect his choice would have on both Princess Corleya and on King Bale’s reign. “The princess is on her own and the Pillars will have to keep King Bale on the throne,” he said. “I hate turning my back on them, but we don’t have the numbers or the skills to free the princess. Even if we could find her now, the Kordanu will be heading deep into the forest south of here where more tribes will be gathering. It would take an army to free her. We might as well go after my son.”
“Seeing as how we are no longer slaves, perhaps the tribesman who has been watching over us will give us horses to go after Kael,” Saleece suggested.
Giddeon stood and stepped over to Takma. “You are Bala Takma right? I remember you from the peace talks years ago. You were the youngest war leader your people had. That scar on your cheek, the wound was made by my king’s blade, right?” he asked as he ran his finger down his own cheek.
“Yes, Spirit-talker. Mighty warrior, your king.” Bala Takma shook his head as if it were irrelevant. “Matter no. The Katak Sarak makes you free. I take to village, get your women. We walk. Others flee with high moons,” he explained, and left the tent.
“Great,” Giddeon said, looking at Kasik and Saleece. “I guess we’re walking after all then.”
It took four days for Takma to escort Giddeon’s group to the new campsite the Taktala had agreed upon at the auction. Originally, Takma had been ordered to escort and provide protection for Grodin, so he was aware of both possible sites planned. They arrived the morning after Kael and Kyah had passed through the camp. A camp that was on the verge of civil war.
Chief Vattis Taktala returned from his hunting trip only a half hour before Giddeon and Takma arrived. He was not taking the idea of freed slaves very well, and he was taking the fact that his men thought it was a good idea even worse. The moment he understood what was happening, Takma left Giddeon’s side and went to explain to his chief what had happened while he was gone.
Saleece noticed Yrlissa near the doorway of Nyrta’s tent. The assassin looked ready to fight her way out if she had to. “Father, there’s Yrlissa. Come on.”
Giddeon and the others joined Yrlissa by the tent as the fighting between the chief and his men heated up even more. Bala Takma weighed his voice into the fray and the situation quickly got worse.
Yrlissa smiled as she saw the others approach. “I am very glad to see you all, but I hope you are ready to fight. Our freedom may not be earned so easily,” she said, nodding towards the dispute in the middle of the camp.
Looking around Max asked, “Yrlissa... Where’s Ember? What the hell happened?”
She shook her head in disgust. “The man Takma left in his place beat her close to death yesterday morning. Literally just moments before Kael and a young woman nearly destroyed what was left of the warriors guarding the camp, including the coward who almost killed Ember,” she said, retelling the events of the day before.
“Is she... is...”
“She’s alive, Max, but only because the young woman with Kael healed her with powerful healing magic, the likes of which I have never seen.”
Giddeon’s concern caught Yrlissa’s attention, but Max spoke first.
“Kael’s here then? God dammit, where is he? With Ember? Come on, tell me where he is... Finally, after all this time,” he said, his excitement getting the better of him.
Giddeon, Saleece, and Kasik stepped back slightly and looked around the camp.
“He’s not here,” Yrlissa started, but held up her hand when Max tried to interrupt. “Let me explain. Takma’s second gave standing orders for Ember and I to be darted with sleep poison if there was any chance of our escape, whether during an attack or even a significant distraction. I was hit the moment they saw Kael and the young woman. Ember was barely alive and she’d been put in a tent with their healers. He wasn’t even aware that she was here,” she explained.
“Well, of course he didn’t know,” Max snapped, and turned to stare at Giddeon. “It’s not like Kael would be looking for her, or me, for that matter.” Max finished, clearly still fuming from his argument with Giddeon four days earlier.
Yrlissa frowned, giving him a strange look. “Why not? What’s happened?”
“Kael came through our camp as well, Yrlissa. Giddeon had himself a nice conversation with him in, fact,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Would that not be a good thing?” Yrlissa enquired, looking over at Giddeon.
“It’d be fucking perfect, had he not told Kael that Ember and I died during the crossing in the portal.”
Yrlissa never had the chance to reply as the disagreement escalated between the chief and his personal guards. Unable to convince his chief that freed slaves were a good idea, Bala Takma and those who had seen what Kael was capable of found themselves under attack by their own tribesmen.
The warriors who had fled from Grodin’s encampment had not arrived at the main camp yet, so the fight was almost even in numbers.
Aware that things may not turn out as they needed, Giddeon nodded to Yrlissa. “We need to get out of here.”
She pointed to the trail at the rear of the tent. “That fight will give us the chance we need, but everyone in here first,” she said, ducking inside the tent. “Max, take Ember, but please be careful. She shouldn’t be moved yet, but we have no choice. The rest of you grab your weapons and travel packs. Nyrta brought them back to me this morning filled with food and water bottles. She wants no more trouble from Kael... If only her father would listen,” Yrlissa said.
Max lifted Ember off the bone and fur bed as gently as he could while Yrlissa and Kasik watched at the opening of the tent for a safe chance to run.
“Now,” they both hissed in unison. Yrlissa lead the way behind the tents as Kasik held open the door flap so everyone could follow. She headed north through the backside of the camp, ducking close to the tents when the fighting came close enough to reveal their escape. It soon appeared that escape was exactly what they were doing, as Giddeon noticed the Chief and his warriors gain the upper hand over Takma and those terrified of Kael.
Racing on, Yrlissa led the group to the Taktala horse corral. Their best chance to stay free and to catch up with Kael would be on horseback.
“Make sure to grab extra mounts,” Kasik shouted, slipping a halter over the horse nuzzling his hand. Hopping up on the chestnut coloured mare, he rode over to Max as he entered the corral. “Give Ember to me,” he offered, “and grab a couple of horses. We may need to outrun the tribesmen.”
Yrlissa obviously had a better idea. She hung back on her horse and the red roan mare she chose as a spare. Yelling at the others to head north and to use the left of the three trails, she used her mount to chase the remaining horses out of the pen and up the trail after the others. At the very least, it would limit the pursuit ability of the Taktala. All the horses followed after Giddeon and the others, only breaking away into the forest an hour later.
Giddeon and his group rode until the early afternoon with no signs of pursuit. Ember rested easily in Max’s arms as his mount skilfully picked its way amongst the sodden terrain, but out of nowhere, sudden, explosive and violent seizures racked her body and knocked both of them
from his mount. Twisting in mid-air after being thrown from the horse, he landed on his back in the bushes, cushioning Ember’s convulsing body with his own.
Grunting as he landed, he still managed to shout for help. “Yrlissa! Jesus, what the hell is wrong with her?” He gently laid her shaking body on the grass, rolling her onto her side.
Yrlissa arrived in seconds and closed her eyes. Placing her left hand on Ember’s forehead, she examined Ember’s shaking body.
“I knew it was too soon to move her. That bastard broke half the bones in her body and several of her organs were damaged,” she explained swiftly as her magic searched for what could have started the convulsions. “Her heart is still weak from that jump to Corynth. Few people would have survived the beating she received. Thank Mylla for that woman with Kael. Giddeon, we need a place to stay, somewhere dry and safe for a couple of days, at least. It will have to be some place we can keep warm. If we keep riding, she’ll die. Please hurry, Giddeon,” she pleaded.
The ArchWizard nodded. “Kasik, you and Max come help me. We’ll see what we can find. There are plenty of caves around. We’ll return the moment we have a place that will meet her needs,” he promised, and the three left, moving through the forest as fast their feet would take them.
“Saleece, hurry and give me a hand please. We have to stop these seizures. Kneel behind her,” she instructed, while rolling Ember over, “and hold her gently by the shoulders. That’s it, now place her head on your knees.” Saleece did as she was asked without saying a word. “Good,” Yrlissa added. “Keep her from moving too much, but be very careful not to hurt her,” Yrlissa explained.
“What else, Yrlissa? Tell me what I can do,” Saleece asked, quietly.
“Nothing, the rest is up to me,” she smiled, already beginning her spell. “Anavah Vallanomin.” The words were soft, yet her voice strong, as green and blue magical light enveloped and then slowly permeated Ember’s body.
